(11/11) HOTL Hour 1

Handel on the Law, Marginal Legal Advice.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is handle on the law marginallegal advice where I tell you you have
absolutely no case. All right,this is a story I did, and
I've been doing this regularly about homeschooling. And this story is not particularly about
homeschooling, but is peripherally about homeschooling. Now people homeschool. There are kids

(00:22):
in the past were they did itfor primarily religious reasons, and usually these
are Christian Americans who believe very fundamentallyin schools teaching a Christian based religion,
well, the courts have never allowedthat in public school you can't do it.
Separation of church estate just can't doit. I grew up in a

(00:44):
system where it was a public schoolsystem and religion was just not part of
it, and so parents who wereunhappy with that philosophy would homeschool their kids.
And more and more of them aredoing it, by the way,
and not so much on the religiouslevel. Now over half of those people
are doing because education is so crappyin public schools, and therein lies this

(01:07):
story about Oregon. Oregon has justdrapped dropped all graduation standards based on equity.
Graduation standards is based on the requirementto pass the state mandated well,

(01:32):
state mandated rules, state mandated tests. They do writing clearly accurately, math
basically reading, writing, and math, and the students were required to demonstrate
those skills for graduating high school.That's it. They had to earn a
certain level of points, they hadto graduate with a certain knowledge, and

(01:53):
a whole lot of students didn't andthey didn't graduate. Well, that's changed,
COVID had changed because school closure andit was just really difficult for students
in home learning and the learning outsideof the classroom to in fact get the

(02:13):
kind of education they needed. Andso they set up new standards for COVID
right after COVID, and that isbasically, we're not going to pay attention
to any of the testing. Testingis gone, and you're still going to
graduate. Well, they've extended thatand they're saying and now it's permanent.
And why is that, Well,because too many students were failing based on

(02:36):
they were poor students, socioeconomically poorareas they came from, they were minority
students who didn't pass at a higherrate, failed at a higher rate in
terms of those basic tests. Andby the way, those basic tests are
really easy. We're not talking geniuseswho have to pass this test. And

(03:00):
so because the tests are quote racists, they just eliminated, eliminated. That's
it, you're done, don't haveto take them, and you graduate.
And so guess what happened. Thenumber of graduates skyrocketed because you don't have
to take the test, and whenthey do take tests subsequent to that or

(03:23):
enter a junior college because they're certainlynot going to get into a four year
institution based on what's going on withthe testing. They just don't cut it.
They're just not proficient. That's all. No thanks. You can't do
math, you can't read, youcan't write clearly to meet minimum standards.
But Oregon says, we're talking aboutthe Department of Education. We're talking about

(03:47):
even the Education Associate Associate Union,and even teachers are saying it's racist.
Minimum standards are racist. You can'tdo it to these kids. And of
course D is now a C.If I got a D, i'd have

(04:09):
to repeat the class. Back whenI was going to school, that was
effectively a fail. The only reasonyou got a D is you didn't get
zero on your GPA. Those daysare gone. Those days are gone.
You can literally it's crazy, andI tell you I would homeschool my kids.

(04:30):
As a matter of fact, whatI did is I sent my kids
to private school, which anybody whocould afford it has done so in the
last few years. I mean,it is truly god awful and it's unfortunate.
All right, I'm getting on myhigh horse here. Let's go ahead
and take some phone calls. I'llstart with you, Chris, Welcome to

(04:53):
handle on the law. Okay,Hey, my dad is in a market
for a used car toyot. Thoseare known for catalytic converter thefts. But
I was going to help him findone that hadn't had any problems. I'm
a small check inspector, so whenhe was out in another city, I
said, hey, Dad, ifyou want to buy this car, take

(05:14):
it to get small checked. Theywill make sure there's if any aftermarket parts.
Their converter has been replaced, itwill be replaced with the correct one.
So he takes it in. Itpasses this shop. I recommend it
because it's a sister shop for thecompany that I work for. He doesn't
want to drive the car after hegets the home. He doesn't want to

(05:38):
drive it until he gets a catalyticconverter THEFT shield installed on it. So
when just a couple of days ago, the shield comes in the mail and
I go to help him put iton, and I'm like, wow,
I noticed the cat is aftermarket andit is not a California legal one.
And there's also a sensor altercation onthe car that would prevent the car computer

(06:00):
from knowing that his cat was notyou know, quality or good standards.
So now I'm upset that the inspectordidn't do his job. And as the
inspector myself, you know again,I'm upset that that this was myssed and
we wouldn't even have purchased the car. Yeah, okay, let me ask
you. Okay, let me letme ask this. I'm going to cut

(06:20):
you to the chase. When theydo a test, if I'm correct based
on my experience with tests, uh, the information is sent immediately to the
state or the DMV instantly, andyou're handed a receipt showing that it has
passed correct. Is that correct?Yes? Okay? And was your dad

(06:42):
handed the receipt? Yes, andthere it shows it had passed correct correct?
Yes? Oh, and it hadn'tpassed well, it's Okay, this
is the visual portion of the test, so it's in cumbent on the It's
on the technician to report or toinspect the car thoroughly and then to input

(07:03):
that information onto the certificate. Ohand he didn't do that, but it's
okay. So effectively it didn't pass, or it would fail if I took
it to any other place that dida okay job. Okay, And yeah,
based on what you say, yeah, I think obviously the technician screwed

(07:24):
up. He didn't do what hewas supposed to do, clearly. And
your dad drove off and bought thecar. Okay, And you want to
know what your what the damages are? Damages is? I guess buying the
car. The cars were something.And so what your dad gets to do
is sell the car, get ridof the car, even salvage it if

(07:45):
or fix it, put the rightparts in. And the technician that shop
is liable for that, and it'sjust a question of repair it. And
there you go. You got torepair it, you pay for it.
How much are gonna cost to repairit? It's about three grands now,
just wow, three to bring threegrand to bring it up to standards.
That's correct. And the owner,the owner of that shop. The owner

(08:09):
of that shop is also my boss, so well, good luck, good
luck. Yeah yeah, I meanif you want, I mean, okay,
liability three grand to repair a Imean that's insane. If it's just
a cap, that's different. Evenputting an entire new Okay, fair enough,
all right, whatever it is,whatever it is, I get it.
So yeah, he's responsible for thecost of repairing it. But it's

(08:31):
your boss. So guess what yourdad gets to do? Get figure it,
figure it out, split it,maybe force the issue, file lawsuit,
you get fired. Yeah, yeah, I mean those are your choices.
I mean, it's uh, whenyour boss screws up and you have
to you have to suit your boss. Guess what that becomes problematic? Hello

(08:52):
Martha, welcome. Hi. That'smy husband bought a house solo, and
then after that I was added tothe grand deed. The inspector we're getting
uh inspected the house for a letpoison and inspectors that I'm not in the

(09:13):
the owner and then the title saysmy name, then the property property will
fill it has my name, butthat doesn't matter. Yeah, that doesn't
matter if you're not on the granddeed. If you are not untitled,
it can go ahead and set anybodycan put my name on it. Uh,
that's not determinative. Uh, it'sa there's there's no there's no damage.

(09:39):
I. In other words, let'sdo this. Let me go in
a different direction. Someone buys ahouse, uh, and then turns around
and goes, ah, Uh Martha, I found out that Martha really isn't
an owner. Therefore I'm not buyingthe house, or I wouldn't have bought
the house. Really, So UhNo, you're fine. Your husband owns

(10:00):
the house. Uh, and that'sit. You have absolutely no liability.
You don't own the house. What'sgonna happen if he dies, you're gonna
own the house. Uh? Ifyou do you have kids? Do you
have kids? No, we don'thave kids. Oh, then the then
the then the house, then thehouse. Then the house would go to
you if he died. But rightnow I'm not the owner. Then no,
you're not the owner. If yourname isn't non title. If the

(10:24):
only place your name shows up isyou're the owner on some sign or some
kind of listing, Uh, thatdoesn't matter. Are you on title with
the house? Is the house ownedby you on title on the title,
Yes, it's a it's Cynthia.Yes. Then if you're on title,

(10:45):
of course you own the home.Cynthia. Uh. I'm I'm gonna start
losing my patience here. Okay.I asked you are your You said your
name isn't on it. Your nameis on it. And if your name
is on it, then you ownthe house with your husband. I don't
know what. It doesn't matter whathe says. If your name is on

(11:09):
it, you own the house withhim. Oh okay. On her way
to the men's meeting, I'm gladshe called. All right, Tiffany,
Hello, Tiffany. Oh you knowwhat. Uh, hold on a minute,
Tiffany. I'll get back to you, uh in just a moment.

(11:31):
First, I want to tell uh, those people who are in pain,
chronic pain, living in chronic pain, well, that's pain. I mean
serious pain and trauma. And notjust for you who live in pain,
uh, but also for your lovedones and you're living with them. Now.
When I go to urgent care,I do it with a paper cut.

(11:52):
To me, that's pain. However, I know people who live in
pain, serious pain. Chronic painis debilitating and if you happen to be
that way or know someone who does, especially a loved one. Listen to
The Pain Game podcast. It's ashow about living in with chronic pain with
trauma. I know the host thisis really valuable stuff, and I know

(12:15):
how people relate to it and howit helps them. The podcast is funny,
it's sad, it teaches, itinspires all of that. And the
host, Lindsay Soprano, who Ihappen to know, shares her stories of
living in with chronic pain and trauma, and she has lots of it twenty
four to seven and her guests haveeither lived with or dealt with this pain
and trauma, anything from experts inthe field to lawyers, stay at home

(12:39):
moms across the board. And everyepisode ends with a message of hope.
You're going to understand what the showreally is about. It's giving pain purpose.
So go to the iHeartRadio app orwherever you listen to podcasts The Pain
Game Podcast. That is The PainGame Podcast. Tiffany, Hello, Tiffany,

(13:00):
Hi Bill. I was in acar accident and the end of August
I was in a pretty big,brand new Mercedes Benz sub and a little
small Prius ran the stop sign,they were speeding. They hit me.
I was in the car with myeighty three year old mom. He hit
me so hard he spent us arounda couple of times, and we landed
on the other side of the street. We had just came out of our

(13:24):
lawyer's office that morning. We hadn'twent a block before he hit us.
We had witnesses and blah blah blah. Anyway, the officer wrote the report
up that yes, this guy wasfeeding, Yes he ran the stop sign,
but he said that I was whatever. He said, I was also

(13:45):
speeding. But when he talked toeverybody that he talked to though in the
report, said that I was goingabout fifteen miles an hour. But because
of that, the other guy's insuranceis also charging me with thirty percent.
Yeah yeah, all right, butbecause yeah, but because it was so

(14:05):
much damage, that's a lot ofmoney out of my pocket. So right,
right, understood email, Well,first of all, hang on a
minute, you have insurance, right, I mean, you're not gonna have
a car of that value without insurance, correct, All right, So you're
covered by your insurance for that partof it, So that that starts,
it's gonna be whatever deductible you haveis probably yeah, yeah, don't worry.

(14:26):
However, let me go beyond that. Wait, wait, you are
you saying that I don't have topay the thirty percent? Right? That's
I don't think you have to paythe thirty percent. That's your insurance that
pays for that thirty percent. However, let's go let's go the other way.
Let's go the other way. Theother way is uh, you ask

(14:48):
was the cop there? How didyou know you were speeding? If every
witness said you weren't? Right?So I emailed the cop and his supervisor.
It's a that's a whole nother storyema the cop and the supervisor.
And because now my car three monthslater, they're finally almost done with it.
And so they finally got back tome and someone who looked at this,

(15:13):
because anyway, somebody who finally lookedat this said, yes, this
has to be a mistake. Thecop obviously should have put it on person
friend who was all right, sothe report, Yet that doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter if the cop wasn'tthere. It almost doesn't matter what the
cop said on both sides. Bythe way, what's determinative is going to

(15:37):
be what the witnesses say that becausethey were there, the cop wasn't.
But I'm sorry, but his insurancecompany is solely going at based on the
report. No, I understand.I understand. So you go too bad.
That's just too bad if they're relyingon a cop who wasn't there and

(15:58):
ignoring all the witnesses who were thereand your testimony. Guess what, the
cop is just wrong and the insurancecompany is just wrong, and you end
up suing that. You end upsuing the you end up suing the driver
by the other side. That's whatyou do. Go to your insurance company

(16:18):
and say, I'm not at fault. Now they may say you are at
fault part thirty percent, but yougo, no, I'm not. Cop
wasn't there. I mean, youargue with your insurance company. I've argued
the insurance company. My daughter gotinto a wreck that was clearly the other
guy's fault, and for some reason, the insurance company tagged or her at
being fifty percent responsible. And Isaid no, I argued on her behalf,

(16:44):
telling them usually you can't argue unlessyou're a lawyer representing someone. Say
I'm a lawyer, I think,and so I argued on her behalf,
and they just changed it. WhenI proved to them, it's impossible.
And when you proved to the insurancecompany, it's impossible. Because I've got
fifteen witnesses, a cop wasn't there, and there are marks, and he

(17:06):
didn't make a block. I couldnot be speeding. It's impossible. Okay.
Then that's your argument. So yougo back to you have you go
to the other insurance company or haveyour insump insurance company go to the other
insurance company and say they're at fault. That's what works. Yeah, just
because let me tell you, copssaid you were speeding. Okay, how
do you know? How do youknow? Uh? Yeah, So that's

(17:30):
the way that works. Okay,uh right, uh sharing hello sharing?
Hello, Hi Bill. I havea quick question. I received a letter
that is legal actions which may includeinjunctive relief in the chance record of Franklin

(17:52):
County. Okay, uh, injunctionrelief, not release relief, right right,
Okay, all right. That meansthat someone is sending you a letter
to scare you. That's a lawyerletter, right right. Okay, that's
blowing that's basically blowing smoke. Becausewell, let me do this tell me

(18:14):
a little bit about the case ifyou can do it in a minute and
a half, for a couple ofminutes. Yes, I live in a
neighborhood with a neighborhood covet and Ineed to put a roof on my house.
And they I sold them back inJuly twenty twenty three. I was
going to do the roof and hereit is now November twenty twenty three.
That's still not done the roof yet. Okay. And who's and who is

(18:37):
on whose behalf is this letter written? It is written on behalf of my
daughter. She's the one that's writingyou saying she can go for injunctive relief
for asking for it. What doesshe have to do with any of this?
No, I'm sorry she No,she is the owner of the house.
Wow. Okay. And why wouldyou have to put a roof on
it? Well, not me,it's her rather, I'm sorry she will

(18:59):
have to put a roof on.And who is and who is saying you
have to put a roof on thehouse. Who is arguing that the neighborhood
associations? Okay, the h oA is forcing her and saying she has
to put a roof on because she'sin violation of the h o A rules.
Correct, correct, Okay. Injunctiverelief means that they're going to ask

(19:19):
a judge to order her to putit on. All right, Uh,
that's how that works so up now, and they probably and they did say
in a letter you may request thehearing, but a letter is that's a
hearing with the h o A.That is, they haven't gone to court.
Even they haven't even gone to court. Okay, Yeah, they're just

(19:41):
saying, one of the things wecan do is ask for injunctive relief.
That's one of the things that wecan ask for. Another one is we
can put the roof on if yourefuse and charge you for it. That's
another another thing they can do.They can say, if you don't put
the roof on, we're going toask the court to give you twenty five

(20:03):
years to life. Nobly, no, that's probably not right. But bottom
line, that's injunctive relief, askingthe court actually asking the court to also
stop someone enjoying someone from doing something. That's primarily it. I mean,
here's injunctive relief. Someone is doingsomething and going to your honor and stopping

(20:26):
them from doing something. You can'ttake my car. You can't and you
owe the car. Let's say someonesays you haven't paid money, and they
say you have, and they're tryingto get your car, and you go
into the court and say no,you can't do it. You're enjoying from
doing it. Andrew, Hello,Andrew, welcome, Hey Bill. Nineteen

(20:51):
ninety six, I got a seconddegree residential burglary charge out of Washington State.
What out of that charge was afelony conviction? I currently was at
across the street from the courthouse Iwas charged in. When I go over
there, I would like to getit expunged. Yeah, no, I
understand. But this is Washington,right, Okay, So the rules of

(21:15):
Washington I'm not familiar with, butI'm assuming they're close to the rules of
California, and that is, youcan get expungement, except especially if you're
going back to nineteen ninety six.I mean that is, no one's going
to argue that you have become adanger or or you've done rotten things since
then. Now what I'm asking,let's say we follow the same rules here,

(21:37):
would the burglary? Could it havebeen charged as a misdemeanor? I
think I'm not sure that they musthave placed of value to it. I
think there was a B and Eokay, a breaking and entery, so
they could so basically they could nothave charge it. It is a misdemeanor

(22:00):
under the law. They had tocharge it as a felony. Correct,
correct, Okay, yeah, Idon't know the rules, but I think
going back that far, it's alot looser now the expungement rules. The
law allows expungement, particularly under yourcircumstances. This was maybe a one time

(22:23):
well this is second time, right, this is one time and okay,
I guess also attached to this.Do I need representation for this? Yeah?
You do? Yeah, yeah,yeah, I would because this gets
a little bit, a little bitnot sketchy, but a little hinky.
I would talk to a criminal lawyerand say, how do I get this
expunge? First of all, youwant to go on the website and look

(22:45):
at the rules of the court.I don't even know if you can get
it expunged if the law allows youto get it exponged. If they've loosened
up the law, so that's easy. You know, you go, hey,
can I get the law exponged?I? Yes, Well, here
are the there's the way to doit, and a lot of people,
now you go on the internet,and let me go back when I say,

(23:06):
yeah, you need a lawyer,I would get a lawyer because I
can't read the internet with a damnBut a lot of people if you have
the ABCDE right down the line,you can argue it yourself. And your
argument is the basic argument is assumingthat you can do it is I haven't
done anything since nineteen ninety six,and I've led an exemplary life, and

(23:27):
that really goes a long way withthe judges. I mean a long way.
And the fact that you live acrossthe street from the courtroom. Okay,
congratulations, Hello Morris, welcome.What can I do for you?
Oh yes, I'd like to knowif I can. I just got my
property tax bill from LA County,and I'd like to know if I can

(23:47):
opt down on a portion of thebill which I really don't like paying for.
Of course, of course I dothat all the time. The IRS
sends me a bill. I say, now, I'm only going to pay
for seventy percent, and they go, oh, okay, bill, not
a problem. I do the samething at the store when I buy something
and here in Los Angeles, particularlywhere I live, it's ten and a

(24:11):
half percent sales tax. And Itell the clerk, oh, man,
I'm not paying the sales tax.I'll pay half of it. But they
go, of course, no problem, Morris. Where do you think you
have the right or the ability topay less than what you think on the
sales tax or on the property tax. That's why i've kind of I'm calling

(24:37):
into your people show here to findout if I'm able to do that.
No, no, you have tohave some basis of doing that. Now,
I'll tell you what you can doto lower your property tax. And
this actually happens if the property valuedrops. You can make an application to
the recorder's office or the assessor's officeand asked for a reevaluation, which happened

(25:03):
when the real estate market crashed inI think it was twenty twenty eleven,
twenty ten, twenty eleven, andpeople did that all the time, and
the assessor had no choice, andthen property value went up and it was
reassessment. So that's the only wayyou're going to get it, and you're
not going to get it because propertyvalues have only gone up in the last
few years. So there is thelegal basis, my friend, it doesn't

(25:27):
exist. But thanks for trying.All right, that's good news, isn't
it. Do I want to gofor another call or I just take an
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(25:48):
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(26:11):
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(26:33):
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(26:55):
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